Peaceful Streets Project is Leading the Way

The Peaceful Streets Project, “an all-volunteer, grassroots effort uniting Austinites in ending the institutional violence taking place on our streets”, is making a difference. The positive impact had due to the creation of the organization comes from those involved – good folks connecting and collaborating to protect their rights and bring-about a better community.

It all began due to the actions of Pat Oborski and Robert Snider, who are both employed at the Austin, TX police department. Due to their aggressive treatment of a female whom they had detained Antonio Buehler started taking pictures to document their actions. Oborski then confronted Buehler, took him to the ground, and told him he’d be sorry for fucking with the police. In his affidavit [embedded below] Oborski claimed that Buehler had spit on him – a third-degree felony, which could land Buehler in a cage for a decade.

Buehler wasn’t intimated – he knew it wasn’t him in the wrong. He posted ads on Craigslist and flyers in the area of the incident to encourage eyewitnesses to step-forward. And step-forward they did – proof to me that there are more good folks around than bad. In particular, one person shared the footage he’d captured from across the street, which unequivocally supported Buehler’s version of events. Oborski was ousted as a liar.

How can he sleep at night knowing that his claims could have sent a good person to a cage for a decade!?! If he would unthinkingly do this to Buehler – someone who was trying to come to the aid of an innocent stranger by document the aggressive actions of another – how many others has he previously railroaded??

Thus far Oborski’s colleagues have attempted to run damage control. But we shouldn’t be surprised – that’s the kind of accountability that one should expect from an institution that claims a monopoly.

An internal investigation claimed that Oborski’s actions didn’t violate departmental policy (which could only be accurate if their own policies say that it’s ok for Austin police employees to run roughshod over the rights of those they purport to serve).

And, in a classic hide-behind-the-thin-blue-line, Art Acevedo, the top-dog at Austin PD, has refused to release dash cam footage that depicts the incident.

Buehler has multiple times had his court proceedings pushed-back. It’s clear the DA is balking.

Unsurprisingly, lots of people were outraged at the double-standards Buehler’s situation brought to light. Fortunately, rather than just express disgust then move on to the next item in the news cycle many of them acted and joined forces to create the Peaceful Streets Project.

They work to capture and post online complaints about actions done by Austin PD employees, and to educate others on their rights. And that’s no lip-service. At their latest know-your-rights training, attended by 200, they gave-out 100 videocameras (thanks to donations from individuals inside- and outside-Austin) to help keep their streets safer from the institutionalized violence too-often doled-out by Austin PD employees.

So successful has Peaceful Streets Project been that others from cities thousands of miles away, have contacted them with interest in starting an offshoot in their area. It’s awesome to see this happening.

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About The Author

Pete EyrePete Eyre is co-founder of CopBlock.org. As an advocate of peaceful, consensual interactions, Eyre seeks to inject a message of complete liberty and self-government into the conversation of police accountability.Eyre went to undergrad and grad school for law enforcement, then spent time in DC as an intern at the Cato Institute, a Koch Fellow at the Drug Policy Alliance, Directer of Campus Outreach at the Institute for Humane Studies, Crasher-in-Chief at Bureaucrash, and as a contractor for the Future of Freedom Foundation.He later hit the road as co-founder of the Motorhome Diaries and Liberty On Tour, and now resides in the 'shire.

It never ceases to amaze me that cops like you ‘patrol’ this site and others like it, and regardless of how knuckle-headed and illegal the actions of your fellow ‘boys in blue’ were (normally ONLY disclosed through video evidence), you ALWAYS take their side.

YOU ARE THE REASON why people like Antonio Buehler, and others like him, who have the courage and conviction to stand up against rogue cops LIKE YOU and the lies they tell, WILL PREVAIL.

We WILL catch your lying, law breaking, citizen-abusing, disgusting version of an LEO, who thinks your gun and badge make up for you being a VERY little man.